Using Stories to Improve Pupils’ Listening Skills Among Kindergartens Two (K G 2) Pupils at Anglican Primary School.
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain whether stories improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school.
- To examine the effect of gender on the listening skills of kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school.
- To ascertain the impact of stories on pupil and their academic performance.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to examine what the effectiveness of having kindergarten children retell stories was on their listening comprehension. The research related to this study focused on how story retelling may affect listening comprehension and the importance of instructing children about a story’s structure using story retelling. Pearson and Johnson (1978) explained that good listening comprehension instruction should precede good reading comprehension instruction. Children should be given the opportunity to construct a model of meaning for a text or story after hearing it. Pearson and Johnson suggested that children can learn to predict, summarize, retell and discuss things after hearing a story. Pearson and Fielding (1982) in their review of the literature on listening comprehension concluded that listening comprehension is enhanced by various kinds of active verbal responses on the part of students during and after listening. Pearson and Fielding further suggested that teaching listening 3 strategies appeared to help children become more conscious of their listening habits. Activities involving verbal responses and interaction, such as retelling stories, seemed to improve listening comprehension. Because elementary school students spend much time listening, Pearson and Fielding suggested that more attention should be paid to “listening comprehension as an entity in its own right” (p. 626). Keislar and Stern (19~9) combined listening with oral responses from the listeners in a series of studies. They reported that the approach aided the listening comprehension of kindergarten children. Allison (1971) found that fifth grade students achieved higher listening scores when given the opportunity to discuss listening lessons, in small groups, with their peers. Other groups in the study received either no listening instruction or listening instruction with no reinforcement. Weidner (1976) found gains in fourth grade students’ listening comprehension scores when a teacher read literature to them for ten minutes a day.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to Using stories to improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
- Primary source and
- Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain Using stories to improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of Using stories to improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school.
Summary
This study was on Using stories to improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain whether stories improve pupils’ listening skills among kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school, to examine the effect of gender on the listening skills of kindergartens two (K G 2) pupils at Anglican primary school and to ascertain the impact of stories on pupil and their academic performance. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 selected staffs of selected primary schools in Accra, Ghana. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up of headmasters, headmistresses, teachers and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Giving kindergarten children the opportunity to retell stories increases their listening comprehension scores. The control group heard the same eight stories as the treatment group. The control group did not have the opportunity to retell the stories, but they did show an increase in their posttest scores. The fact that the control group heard the same stories may account for the increase in the control group’s posttest scores.
Recommendation
There is the need for the Nigerian government to provide picture books, other visuals and instructional materials in other to encourage active listening in primary schools. To do this, the government should encourage Nigerian local illustrators, authors, storytellers and publishers to produce picture storybooks for primary school pupils in indigenous languages. Apart from this, seminars and workshops should also be organized for the teachers during the holidays to expose them to how to make simple picture storybooks themselves and how to teach storytelling with illustrations. Lots of brightly coloured visuals and other teaching aids should be provided in all primary classrooms and this should be available for all subjects. Primary school teachers in Nigeria should use the mother tongue or language of immediate environment to teach pupils in primary one. Teachers can deliberately bridge the gap in listening between girls and boys by giving the boys more opportunities to engage activities to build their listening skills. This can be achieved during activities such as listening games, songs, stories, discussions and interviews. Nigerian parents should communicate with their children in their indigenous languages more than the English Language. They should also tell their children their indigenous stories regularly. This should begin even before they start school
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